Afterlife: Azrael
by Heavenmetal
Summary: Last story in this series, follows Loki's. Azrael's back in Hell, Lucifer is not happy.


Disclaimer: Dogma, and its characters belong to the great Kevin Smith! I'm just borrowing the characters to put in this story. Did I mention I make no money off this?  
  
Afterlife: Azrael  
  
Azrael was back in Hell. He must have screamed for hours from the knowledge of that alone. He had been so close, so very close, to achieving his goal. But his own words echoed in his mind, "the only X factor was the involvement of the last Scion here."  
  
Well, it wasn't like he hadn't tried to stop her. He sent the triplets after her, fat lot of good that did. Letting her live had been his fatal mistake. Hell keeps as good a record on the living as heaven does, every inane exploit of every living soul, documented by unseen agents. So it was no surprise to him that when he spilled the beans about his plot that Hell would no doubt learn who was responsible for the angels' little road trip. And even though that incantation was protecting Bartleby, Loki, and himself, all any demon really had to do to find him was follow the Christ- bitch. He thought it had been too late for anyone to stop him. Idiot, Azrael scolded himself, too damn cocky for my own good. He'd let the tubby- boy hit him with the golf club just to show his sister he was stronger than she thought. And that's where it all went to Hell... literally.  
  
As soon as the body he had possessed was destroyed, Azrael and the poor soul whose body he'd borrowed were practically thrown into Hell. He'd actually laughed once he'd arrived. Sure, all of Hell now knew what he'd been up to but soon that wouldn't matter. A few moments and none of them would exist. It was only until those moments began to seem so infinitely long, and Azrael stood before an enraged Lucifer, that he realized he had failed. Now not only was he in Hell but he was about to be sentenced by it ruler. A ruler, who, by the way, hates being shown up. Nothing is scarier than Lucifer at his angriest. Mostly because he doesn't yell, or even look upset. He's so very in control. He smiles and talks in the most silky tones while his eyes burn with unparalleled hatred.  
  
That was when Azrael had started screaming.  
  
He couldn't even remember now what the Morningstar had said to him or what his punishment was. He'd been so crippled by terror. Because if anyone can punish an abstract, a being with no form or body, Lucifer could do it. And Azrael had learned first-hand how clever the ruler of Hell was. If someone has no body, then you attack the sense of self. Azrael had been left alone in a small, dark cell, chained by an incantation, until he thought they had forgotten him, his mind conjuring up images of how they would toture him. But that was when the real torture began. The room would become alternately intensely hot and cold at irregular intervals until Azrael couldn't tell if there was fire freezing him or ice burning him and when he would pass out from the extremes, they would move him to a different cell and he would be alone again. They used his fear, pain and confusion to keep him from fighting back.  
  
Sometimes he would awaken and find himself forced into the body of a demon, a former angel, and other demons would torture him, hundreds of different ways. Including what it did to his mind. While Azrael was inside the body of a demon, he was constantly in a struggle to maintain his own identity. He would be assaulted by memories and thoughts that weren't his own and the pain only served to confuse him more. It would never take long for him to start screaming and begging for mercy. Muses don't have much of a pain tolerance.  
  
There were times when he'd be alone and he murmur to himself, things he could have done. And there were lots of times when he thought he'd gone mad. But he was still intact, so again they left him. And when they couldn't think of anything else to do to him, they sent Loki.  
  
The mere sight of him had made Azrael struggle against the supernatural bond that chained him. This was a much different Loki than Azrael had seen back on Earth. The simple, god-fearing creature was gone to be replaced with a monster. He wore a dark counterfeit of his angelic armor and his hair looked much different now. The blood of the river Phlegethon had permanently dyed it for the most part, and in some spots, hints of his golden hair still dimly shone. When he turned his head, his hair moved and the effect was like staring at a living flame. Loki had been created to kill and now he looked as deadly as he was. He leveled a malicious smile at the chained abstract and grinned.  
  
"Azrael... "  
  
In that one whispered snarl, Azrael had heard hatred and the promise of much pain and he whimpered in fear.  
  
Loki's eyes grew wide at that, his smile disapearing. "No, no... hush. There'll be plenty of time for that. I haven't even gotten started." And that wicked smile returned with a vengeance. "By the way, old friend," He spat the word out sarcastically, "have you heard about my new job? The one I wouldn't even have if I hadn't been killed and sent to hell ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!"  
  
Azrael flinched at the loud, angry growl but still responded. "I can't say I'm sorry. I used you to get out of here and if I had the chance, I'd do it again. At least by being here, you might understand why."  
  
Loki laughed, a dark, scary thing to hear. "Why... yes. But that still leads us back to the fact that I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you so you can understand why I'm going to torture the fuck out of you." Loki then leaned against a wall of the cell and sighed. "You know, I'm surprised that after all your time here you never realized one important thing." Loki paused to give Azrael a chance to speak. When he said nothing, Loki shrugged and continued. "You are the only Muse in hell. That means that all the inspiration in Hell comes from you. So in a way, I guess you do this to yourself."  
  
Suddenly, Loki gasped, eyes wide in mock surprise, "Well, hey, I just thought of something! Thank you."  
  
Loki unsheathed a dagger and slowly approached Azrael.  
  
THE END!  
  
*****  
  
Author's note: that's it for this series. (I titled it Afterlife because I wanted to deal with what happened to everyone who was "dead or from another plan of existence") During the writing of this series I have watched the "Evil is an abstract scene" so many times. Thanks everyone for reading it! I hope you liked it. 


End file.
